I'm pretty sure I mentioned it somewhere on here, but in case I didn't, I'd like to share that I have turned to "the Dark Side" of the whistle, joining the Barrie & District Association of Basketball Officials (BDABO, for short) when we moved back to Simcoe County this past summer. After rekindling my referee roots in Guelph last winter, I yearned to continue my journey when we moved to Wasaga Beach, and was flattered that BDABO accepted me with open arms. I was told by a number of friends, during a variety of conversations about the subject matter, that there was a void that required filling with some of the more senior members of BDABO scaling back or "retiring", but I truly had no idea that I could become so busy.
If I'm honest, this kind of busy is a good thing!
A really long time ago, I was a much, much younger version of myself, and I was an active member of BDABR, the acronym used back then. While I really enjoyed being on both sides of the whistle, I had not yet been bitten by the rugby bug and it's vortex-like effect on the minutes of the day. Eventually, between husbanding, parenting, teaching, basketball-ing, rugby-ing, GBSSA/OFSAA-ing, and refereeing, something had to give. It was right around then that I was experiencing some internal strife coaching as a referee because I would fall prey to focussing on what the officials were doing during the game, and not my players, even if it was only for brief periods of time.
I can vividly recall rationalizing the decision, and felt it was a super simple choice ...
Refereeing had to go.
Fast forward to present day, I'm still working off the rust that gathered after 20+ years absence, striving to become a competent official, and continuing to embrace my "Go Hard or Go Home" mentality. As SCAA (Simcoe County Athletic Association) and CASC (Catholic Association of School Councils) transition from the girls' season to the guys', scanning my calendar from the past 3.5 months, forces me to confront the stark reality that I may have put the proverbial "cart before the horse".
I've officiated just over 100 games refereed since the beginning of September!
If you consider that I drove myself to most of my assignments, that's 90+ times I have left poor Joyce stranded without a vehicle since we decided that retirement downsizing meant transitioning to one vehicle. As you might have guessed, she's let me know how many times in her loving and caring way, but while I throw myself on the mercy of her court, my sheepishly grinning reminder that it's helping to fund our up-coming winter in the sunny south was met with mixed emotions.
I make light of the situation, but please know that I readily admit to being a very lucky husband.
Being an active, card-carrying member of the silver-haired club, I have been asked to help with not only the high school scene, but the elementary schools and youth club games as well, meaning on any given week, at almost any time of the day, I could be in a wide variety of community gyms, adorned in zebra stripes, whistle in mouth, and a big smile beneath my referee's mask. Yep, you read that correctly. I'm of the opinion that we still need to pay heed to the pandemic, and with family that is battling health concerns PLUS mothers that are north of 80+, I wear a specialized mask that allows me to officiate at the same time. I truly enjoy being involved in youth sports again.
What people not invested in the education system may have overlooked is that this pandemic has disrupted our young people's lives fully and completely, in ways that are not always apparent. One of those centers around opportunities in athletics where it has created a noticeable dearth of skills and knowledge in the elementary basketball games I've officiated recently. Granted, the games I've done were at the beginning of playoffs level, meaning that all schools have access, and I would suspect that the competency would significantly increase when you get to the Simcoe County championships, but it doesn't change the fact that the level of play, overall, has dropped.
When talking about high school, the drop off of skill is less noticeable with the changes to the club system in this area. Back in the "Stone Ages", high school athletes would only compete in club games outside of the high school season, the prime goal of clubs like the Barrie Royals was to support high school programs. It would seem to me that things have swung 180 degrees, with high schools are the support system now, and athletes focusing on their chosen sport to train and compete all year long. While I can applaud the dedication and focus, I feel a pang of anxiety because I feel strongly that a base comprised of a wide variety of activities offering a more complete array of functional movements, leads to an overall healthier life, and statistically less injuries. I am completely biased, however, because my own experience was skewed significantly considering that I competed in 4-6 sports a year in high school, thanks mostly to the flexibility of my coaches who willingly accepted me missing a practice or two when I was balancing the whole thing. The chart at the right points to an alarming reality in today's world, proof that multi-sport athletes' bodies resist over-training injuries better if they compete in a variety of activities rather than a single sport. It's not my place to comment on other family's choices, but it's still a concern for me based on years of experience.
Getting back on the mental track, I am loving that I can remain involved with youth sports, albeit on the opposite side of the whistle. I've been blessed to experience success on the elite stage in a number of activities I coached, but my "Happy Place" will always be working with those grassroots athletes in high school gyms around the county. I receive loads of comments from parents about how much they appreciate me taking the time to explain blasts of the whistle to their children. The point I'm making is that despite the level, there's still A LOT of learning that takes place on the basketball court during a game, and I'm directly involved in that. UNLIKE voluntarily donating all those coaching hours for 35+ years, now I get a little kick-back for my role in the learning, and NO, coaching was not part of the job description for teaching so I wasn't getting paid to coach, but it's the premise of youth sports that gets me out the door in my retirement.
Hey, you can't have an inter-school competition if you don't have referees ... most of the time.
Truth be told, I'm really having a lot of fun being out there on the court. In a recent weekend passed, I was granted some matches at the 2022 McDonald's Invitational at Collingwood CI, gifting me the opportunity to re-aquaint with coaching buddies from all those years on the road, as well as getting a front row seat for ex-players who are now giving back to the sport. Shout out to Pete Kaija (Sarnia), Kyle Beers (Sudbury), Kate Walker (Bradford), Ross Clarke (Huntsville), Drew Taylor (Barrie), and Connor Laronde (Barrie). A tip 'o the hat to organizer and CCI coach Daryl Sproule for the hours it takes to set up and run the tournament.
Fun Fact ... at least for me! When I returned to Simcoe, BDABO classed me as a C-level official since I had only been actively refereeing for less than 12 months, if you consider I started back in November of 2021 when I joined the Guelph Board. While I respected their policy, I humbly requested the first possible opportunity to be evaluated, hoping to move up to a B-level. Well, that evaluation happened a few days ago during the Barrie Showdown tournament, and I'm proud to report that the feedback was both flattering and confirming, the executive granting me the honour of jumping up to the A-level in recognition and appreciation of the competency I brought to the task.
My gratitude to them, and to my long time friend Dave Gross who evaluated me, is huge.
TWEET!
That's a violation by the old fart for excessive celebration!
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